The fall of Tianjing does not mean that the world is peaceful. Shi Dakai still has tens of thousands of soldiers in Guangxi, and the Nian Army in the north is also causing trouble everywhere. However, the British army believed that their work had been completed and asked for an agreed 5 million taels of silver bounty.

Although the Qing court saved a lot of expenses due to the abolition of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Eight Banners soldiers, the financial situation did not fundamentally improve. The irregular Lijin system for the training of the local regiments must be abolished in a short time, and the court will pay military expenses. Otherwise, how can the authority of the court be reflected?

In the third year of Xianfeng in the Qing Dynasty, the Taipingtian team captured Nanjing. The Qing Dynasty Taichang Temple Qing Lei Yizhe stationed troops in Yangzhou. In view of the lack of national treasury and no military use is given", he adopted the suggestion of the Muke Qian Jiang and raised funds from merchants in Jiangsu. He tried the rice shops in Xiannv Temple (now Jiangdu, Jiangsu), Shao Bo, Yiling and other towns. The initial tax rate was set at one cent. The following year, the Qing court requested to expand it to Henan, and in a few years it expanded to the whole country.

Originally, Lijin was only collected on important water and land routes, and later it prevented merchants from evading taxes and related officials from making profits. It changed to set up branches in various places. Finally, Lijin could be divided into four categories according to the types of Lijin: department stores, salts, foreign medicines, and local medicines. Due to the lack of authority of the imperial court, local officials were very irregular in levying Lijin. Zeng Guofan first saw this problem. On the way to Beijing, he discovered that he had repeatedly levy taxes. So he wrote to the court in time to ask for the standardization of the Lijin system to show that he was thinking about the court and gave himself an additional amulet.

The court did not disappoint Zeng Guofan. The emperor issued an order to Sushun, asking the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue to arrange for Zeng Guofan to work in the Ministry of Revenue to be responsible for the national abolition of Lijin.

This means that the imperial court's wealth has further shrunk, and it seems that the auction of the Old Summer Palace is imperative.

The Qing News Newspaper gave a detailed explanation of the court's financial qualities. This was the first time in the Qing Dynasty. Now, the officials and civilians of the Qing Dynasty knew that in order to improve their financial situation, the court would rather auction the royal ban garden than increase the tax burden of the civilians. It could not help but set off a wave of patriotism. Many gentry donated money to the Ministry of Revenue, but all of them were rejected by the court. Because they were afraid of unreliable local officials, the court turned to encourage gentry from all over the country to resettle refugees.

What's going on? The court actually doesn't want money? The world has changed.

The world has changed, and it is time for the Supreme Emperor to take a break. He has formulated a major policy for the Qing Dynasty that has been unwavering for 100 years, basically covering the protection of human rights, protection of private property, reforming etiquette and law, establishing the Ministry of Revenue Bank for corruption by officials, popularizing primary education, and preliminary justice. Zeng Guofan, Li Hongzhang, and Zuo Zongtang are the future ruling ministers he arranged. It is almost time to retreat from the Supreme Emperor to the side and see how the Qing Dynasty developed on its own.

Under his arrangement, the miscellaneous military base in Qinhuangdao was officially cancelled. He took six warships south, intending to show up as the Duke of London at the Old Summer Palace auction in Shanghai to buy something that he was interested in.

I guess no one dares to buy the garden of the Old Summer Palace itself, but those 100 auction items must be interesting to anyone.

The auction location was held at the Jardines Co., Ltd., 27 Bund, Shanghai Public Concession. Jardines Co., Ltd. was one of the culprits of the Second Opium War. It was natural for the British to choose to auction here. They were also thinking that if they could not get a good price in Shanghai, they would take it back to London and France for auction.

Before 1853, the Qing court still held control of the Shanghai Concession, but the Shanghai Xiaodao rebelled, making the court unable to manage the concession. At that time, the concession was formed by Britain, the United States, France, Germany, Russia, Denmark, Italy, Portugal, Sweden, Austria, Spain, the Netherlands and other countries, which formed a management agency called the "Shanghai Taxpayer Committee". Because its function of managing public affairs is very similar to that of the Ministry of Works, it is translated as "Shanghai Industry Bureau". They recruited police and obtained actual control of the concession. Because British capital occupies most of the seats in the Shanghai Industry Bureau, the French felt unhappy and were planning to withdraw from the Joint Industry Bureau and establish the French Concession themselves.

The power of the Windsor consortium on the Bund is a formidable fear of all foreigners. It bought a large area of ​​superior Bund brand building from British foreign companies. From the Bund 18, No. 18 is the British Telegraph Company building. No. 17 is the Faraday Electric Power Company building. No. 16 is the Zurich Bank building with Swiss flag. No. 15 is the Auto Square, which is the Sales Headquarters of Oxford Auto Factory and the Steinbel Lake Auto Factory, with the British flag and Bavarian flag. No. 14 is the Singapore Petrochemical Headquarters Building, with the East India Company flag. The Dutch East India Company is working inside, so the flags of the two-item East India Company of Great Britain and the Netherlands are flying.

The number No. 13, which is inauspicious in the eyes of Westerners, is nothing great for the Qing people, so the Qing Dynasty Train Bureau building is being built here. Other buildings are built in accordance with the classic architectural style of a certain country. The Qing Dynasty Train Bureau is a strange thing in the public concession and is actually preparing to use wooden buildings in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. If it were not led by the European banking giant, the Bank of Zurich, the Shanghai Industrial Bureau might have rejected it to show the privileges of Europeans here.

The 12th is the Victoria's Secret Building. Fashion brands should not have appeared in the backward country of the Qing Dynasty, but Victoria's Secret is engaged in business with chemical fiber blended fabrics and other fabrics. This industry is urgently needed by the Qing people. Italians are very particular about dressing and have a large number of outstanding designers. They also settled in the Victoria's Secret Building, so the flags of the British and newly established Italian federal government are hung here.

No. 11 is a building building with Swedish and Japanese federal flags, as Ikea and Japanese Monarch Construction Company are stationed here.

The 10th is the building. The Royal Radio of the Qing Dynasty is being prepared here to further monopolize the Qing Dynasty's press.

Nine is the Music Building, which sells phonographs and records, and hangs the Belgian flag.

No. 8 is the Luxembourg Consulate, where the Grand Duke of Luxembourg is staying. It is heavily guarded. The 10 Windsor Consortium-owned enterprises in front of it are also silently supporting the authority of Luxembourg, a small country.

The Duke of London has 11 buildings on the Bund, and the national flag covers 10 countries: Britain, Switzerland, Bavaria, the Netherlands, Italy, Sweden, Japan, the Qing Dynasty, Belgium, and Luxembourg. The Windsor Consortium is called a multinational company. As long as an ordinary rich man owns any organization represented by these 11 buildings, he is enough to become an important player. The Windsor Consortium is a super big player. Thinking about the scale effect, Qi Taiyu would say, "The richest man in the world is a relatively humble nickname for the Duke of London."

If there is the only person in this world who dares to buy the Old Summer Palace, the one you can think of may be the Duke of London, because even if he spends money, it doesn't matter. Now, he is here.

The silhouettes of the fox bats of the East India Company Navy appeared on the Huangpu River. The powerful people who had been waiting on the Bund took off their hats to pay tribute. Among these people, there were British Consuls in Shanghai, Baxiali, Baoshun Foreign Company, Jardine Mass, Qi Taiyu, Xu Run and other compradors. As for Xu Rongcun, he was the head of Chinese intelligence in Tangning, and he had always been by his side and made great contributions to his plan to hold the emperor to make the princes.

Faraday also appeared in the welcome team. It is not surprising that No. 17 of the Bund is not the Faraday Electric Power Building? Because Faraday appears here, it is not surprising that Miss Faraday appears here. The 13-year-old oriental girl stands beside Faraday, who is quite Tingting and handsome. Faraday is also very proud. Of course, he is too fond of his daughter and can promise her anything. For example, this time he came to Shanghai to attend the auction. Faraday is a scientist who was used to being frugal in the first half of his life, and he is not interested in oriental calligraphy and painting. It is her daughter who insists on participating in this century-old Auction, and she must buy some good things. Not everyone can afford the treasures of the Old Summer Palace. Faraday is no longer an ordinary person now. His shares in the power company have made him the top rich man in the world. His annual income and growth have made other rich people see the power tycoon who wants to hit the wall.

Finally, the appearance of a person surprised Tangning - Queen Victoria's beloved princess Louise, as tall as her sister Alice Phil Faraday, who is one year older than her, two beautiful girls standing side by side, like a pair of beautiful Gemini angels.

Tangning: "Louise? Is it really you?" In his impression, it was impossible for the Queen and the Prince to let her run around, let alone the adventurer's paradise in Shanghai.

Louise was very proud of her surprise when she saw Tangning. She was very open and rushed up and gave the Duke a hug of a beautiful Western girl that everyone envied, shouting: "It's me! Didn't you expect it?"

Faraday said: "The Governor of the Straits Colony has arranged guards for us to ensure the safety of His Royal Highness."

This cannot be a reason why Princess Louise can come to Shanghai. There must be something else. However, don’t think too much. I have met my old friends first. Of course, the highest status is the British national hero, a diplomat who was captured by the Qing soldiers, and Mr. Bashali.

Tang Ning asked him with concern about being abused in the Qing prison. Baxiali, Lian, was lucky. He was still a national hero. He even dared to negotiate with Hong Xiuquan to divide the Qing Dynasty, but he didn't reach an agreement. For fun, King Hong Tian wanted the whole world, maybe the entire earth. How could he talk to foreigners about dividing his big cake?

Now that the British army has not completely withdrawn from the Qing Dynasty, it has many troops in Shanghai. The British commander Grant also said to Tangning in a welcome team: "Boss, the Air Force's assistance in the war is really eye-opening. I took some photos of the Heavenly King Palace. Do you want to take a look?" All officers and soldiers and all kinds of people who have served in the East India Company like to call Tangning the boss, and Grant is no exception. This "nickname" is very appropriate, which means that even these people will be greatly influenced by working in India for a long time after leaving India. Basically, diplomats, merchants, and soldiers in the East have worked in India, and they are all subordinates of this big boss. (http:///.).

He indeed took out the photo. After Tang Ning took a look or two, everyone came over to take a look. The most eye-catching thing was of course the big pit. Tang Ning smiled slightly. This photo was good, but he had seen all the more shocking photos. It was taken from the airship. Only from this angle can you better see the little boy's naughtyness. However, Tang Ning immediately ordered that the photo hide. If others saw it, they would definitely copy the airship wildly. The Air Force is really the king of future wars.

Hu Xueyan looked at the richest man in the world whom he admired for a long time on the periphery, the title he envied the most. He heard the people around him say, "Is this the Duke of London? I heard that the 11 buildings on the Bund belong to him, so amazing!"

"The foreigners nodded and bowed. I have never seen this situation before!"

"Did you make it? He worked from civilians to dukes."

A man named Liu sighed: "A real man should do this!"

A Xiang said, "He can replace it!"
Chapter completed!